How to use a compass
The first thing you need to learn, are the directions, North, South, East and West. North is the most important.
You see this red and white arrow; this is called the compass needle, the important thing to remember is the red point is always pointing towards the earth's magnetic north pole.
That's basically what you need to know. It's as simple as that.
BUT what if you don't want to travel north but a different direction?
On the edge of the compass housing, you will have a scale from 0 to 360, these are degrees, plus you will have the letters N, E, S, W, these stand for North, East, South and West.
Now if you want to travel in a direction between two of these, you would combine them. If you would like to go in a direction just between South and East, you would want to travel in a Southeast direction.
So you want to travel in a Southeast direction: What you would do is, look at your compass housing and find where the direction for Southeast is, then you rotate the compass housing so that the direction of travel arrow lines up with the Southeast point on the compass housing.
Hold the compass flat in your hand, so the compass needle can turn freely, and then rotate yourself, until the compass needle is aligned with the lines inside the compass housing.
Take Care! It is important that the red arrow of the compass needle points at north in the compass housing. If south points at north, you would end up walking off in the opposite direction.
Always take a second look to check you have got it right.
A point to remember is not to have magnetic attractions close when using the compass as these may affect your reading, do not place your map on a metal gate or close to your mobile phone.
When you are sure you've got it right, walk off in the direction the direction of travel-arrow is pointing, to avoid going off course, make sure to check your compass at frequent intervals and always find a landmark to head towards.
A couple of points to look for are landmarks like churches, rivers, roads or rail lines are a good guide to keep you on track as these will show up on your map and will help check that you are progressing in the right direction.
Return |
